[ShabbyDoo]

I'm glad this article implies that employees need not stay up all night, as Facebook Hackathons seem to promote. Such events are heavily biased toward the participation of the young and childless who have few mandatory scheduled responsibilities outside the workplace such as childcare. Of course, participation ostensibly is voluntary, but it's clear that there are career benefits such as making oneself known to upper management by presenting one's hack. Companies who schedule these sorts of events likely send a message unknowingly -- If you can't pull and all-nighter, you ought to consider working somewhere else.

[3825]

As I approach this number, I am reminded every day that the median age of Facebookers is 28 and Googlers is 29.

[ShabbyDoo]

In total contrast, I once worked for a staid, rural insurance company where the majority of employees were middle-aged with children. "Flexible" hours meant that one could arrive at work anytime between 6AM and 9AM. Clearly, the flexibility was extended to those who wanted to arrive early so that they could be home by the time their children were getting off the school bus. Twenty-somethings who wanted to venture into the city to see a show (easily an hour drive) still ostensibly had to arrive at work just a few hours after getting home. These family-friendly policies sent a distinct message to the young/childless -- the company regards your happiness as secondary to that of those with children.

Edit: I regard such policy biases as companies' choices to make, but I doubt that many consider sufficiently the messages these events/policies/etc send to particular employee segments.